Card clothing



Dec. 2, 1952 c, MURRAY 2,619,683

CARD CLOTHING Filed March 16, 1950 IN VEN TOR.

' GLMMQ-QYQUW ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 2, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECARD CLOTHING Harold l Murray, Rehoboth, Mass, assignor to United StatesRubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationMarch 16, 1950, Serial No. 149,963

3 Claims. .1 i

This invention relates to card clothing formed of a strip of card clothfoundation having wire teeth settherein, and more particularly to cardclothing formed of a unit or single woven fabric foundation.

In the early development of card clothing, leather was used to form thecard cloth foundation, and while this provided a homogeneous foundationfor supporting the wire teeth, the leather had several naturalshortcomings, such as high stretch, non-uniformity of stretch in a givenpiece of leather, non-uniformity of density and high cost. This led tothe development of woven multiple fabric foundations in which two ormore woven fabrics are adhesively bonded together, and these fabricconstructions formed of two, three or more separate woven fabrics bondedtogether are in general use today. When the wire teeth are inserted incard cloth foundation, formed as just described of two or more wovensheets of fabric adhesively bonded together, some of the prongs of suchwire teeth will penetrate through one or more threads of the weave,while other prongs will pass between the threads without piercing them.This will cause some wire teeth to be more firmly anchored in the cardclothing than other teeth.

The present invention contemplates a unit or single fabric having whatis herein called a multiple weave to give it strength, body andthickness, and which multiple weave fabric is felted or fulled toincrease the density and compact: ness of its weave to thereby provide asubstantially homogeneous card cloth foundation into which the wireteeth may be firmly inserted. In this manner a more compact and uniformwoven foundation is secured than has been available heretofore.

The'present invention also contemplates a construction in which one orboth faces of the felted The present construction also eliminates thenenessity of laminating or bonding several fabric sheets together, andavoids the possibility of ply separation, such as may occur in amultiple fabric foundation. The present homogeneous foundation provideseach wire with a firm highly 2 uniform support, is of simpleconstruction, and makes unnecessary the weaving of several fabrics andthen bondingthem together.

Card clothing such as contemplated by the present invention may vary inthickness from about .08" to about .175, and is formed of two, three ormore layers of strong warp threads disposed one layer above the other toform a multiple weave havinginterlocked with these warp threads bindingweft threads and floating or surface Weft threads. The warp threads arepreferably formed of relatively large high tensile and low stretchthreads, such as highly stretched mercerized cotton threads, and haveinterwoven therewith relatively large floating weft threads formed ofwool, or other fibers that can be felted or fulled and binder weftthreads that are stron enough to hold the threads of the fabric firmlytogether. g

The fabric thus constructed is preferably felted throughout to shrinkthe fabric and make it thicker, more compact and relatively homogeneous,and the bonding material applied to one or both faces of the feltedfabric is preferably tough, durable and yieldable to some extent, sothat the wire teeth inserted in this card cloth foundation will bestrongly supported, but will be able to move relatively toeach other inthe foundation where this is necessary to prevent such wires from beingdamaged. It is contemplated that the card clothing of the presentinvention may be used in any field where conventional or known types ofcard clothing are now used.

While a multiple-ply weave is required to form the constructioncontemplated by the present invention, the particular construction ofsuch weave is not important provided it is such that the warp threadswill impart the desired longitudinal strength and low stretch to thefabric so that the card clothing will remain tightly in place over along period of use when secured aboutthe supporting drum where it isused. The binding weft threads should be so interlocked as toiform astrong fabric, and the weft threads should contain suificient wool orother feltable fiber to en able the fabric to be fulled and feltedthroughout to make, it more dense and uniform.

The above and other features of the present invention will be furtherunderstood from the following description when read in connection withthe accompanying drawing illustrating two good practical embodiments ofthe invention.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a piece of unit Woven card clothfoundation that is felted arid has its faces impregnated in accordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale is a sectional view of the fabric of Fig. 1before it is felted and impregnated;

Fig. 3 is an edge view of a piece of card cloth foundation such as shownin Fig. 1 and having the wire teeth inserted therein; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating a modification of theinvention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawing, the unit or single card clothfoundation is indicated by the numeral ID. This fabric is felted orfulled to make it firmer and more homogeneous, and, as shown, theopposite faces are coated or impregnated with a tough bonding agent asindicated at H and 12. This bonding agent which may be applied to one orboth faces of the fabric, as desired, may be a slightly elastic resin orother tough durable coating material that will lay the felted fibers andform a smooth tough surface that will firmly support the wire teeth I3.This bonding agent preferably penetrates into the felted faces of thefabric It as indicated by I l and I2 in Fig.1.

After the card cloth foundation is woven so that it contains two, threeor more layers of warp threads, depending upon the thickness andstrength desired in such fabric, and after it has been felted and itsfaces have been impregnated as indicated by H and [2, this foundation iscut warpwise or longitudinally into narrow strips, whereupon the wireteeth l3 may be inserted therein as heretofore to form the card clothingshown in Fig. 3.

It will be noted that Fig. 2 shows a two-ply weave formed of the upperlayer of warp threads [4 and lower layer of warp threads l5, and haveinter-woven therewith the binder weft threads I6 and I1 and the floatingor surface weft threads I8 and I9. It is desired to point out that whilethese threads are shown as disposed a substantial distance apart in Fig.2 in order that each thread may be clearly seen, they will be crowdedclose together in the actual weave. All of these threads are preferablyrelatively coarse and all may be substantially the same size. All warpthreads lie approximately straight and parallel in the finished fabricto give the fabric the desired strength and low stretch and to make itpractical to out the fabric longitudinally into straight narrowfoundation strips.

In the modified construction on Fig. 4, there are shown three layers ofwarp threads 25! and each layer has interwoven therewith the fioating orsurface weft threads 2|, to form the three fabrics shown. These threeplies or fabrics formed of the threads 20 and 2| are firmly securedtogether by the binder wefts 22. This multiple fabric shown in Fig. 4 ispreferably felted throughout, as above described, and its faces are thentreated with a suitable bonding agent, whereupon it is cut into longstrips into which wire teeth are inserted to form the desired cardclothing. The weft threads 2! are not floated at the face of the fabricas are the weft threads i8 and [9 of Fig. 2, but they do form the majorportion of the face of the fabric in Fig. and are therefore calledsurface weft threads.

The weave of the fabric, the felting of the same, and the bonding agentused at its faces should all be such as to provide a strong durable cardcloth foundation having a unit weave and homogeneous construction whichwill retain the wire teeth relatively rigidly in place, but it should besufiiciently resilient to allow these wires to yield slightly in thefabric, as above mentioned, so as to secure long life of these wires inaction.

After the multiple weave or unit fabric shown in the drawing and. abovedescribed has been formed, it is preferably felted or fulled throughoutso as to shrink the fabric and bring the threads forming the same moreclosely together and make the fabric more homogeneous. The fabric isthen impregnated at one or both faces by spreading, dipping,roller-coating or by other conventional impregnating methods with atough durable bonding agent in the form of a solution, emulsion ordispersion of tars, asphalts, nonbrittle glue, plastics, elastomers orcombinations thereof; such as an elastomer-plastic combination. Plasticswhich may be used include polymers or copolymers of vinylchloride,polymers or copolymers of vinylidene chloride, polyesters, copolymers ofstyrene and butadiene, copolymers of styrene and acrylonitrile,polyethylene, synthetic linear polyamides, cellulose esters, celluloseethers and the like. Elastomers which may be used include naturalrubber, copolymers of butadiene and styrene, polychloroprene,polyisobutylene, copolymers of butadiene and acrylonitrile, copolymersof isobutylene and isoprene, copolymers of isobutylene and butadiene,polybutadiene and the like. Elastomer-plastic combinations may includeany combination of the above listed plastics or elastomers having mutualcompatibility. The coating operation may be performed so as to limit thedegree and/or depth of impregnation. After impregnation, the fabric maybe treated in such a way as to produce a smooth surface. This may bedone by conventional means such as calendering or ironing theimpregnated surface or by calendering, spreading, or laminating thecoating material onto the face of the fabric. The impregnating and/orcoating materials should have good aging properties, afford protectionagainst the oils and emulsions frequently encountered in cardingoperations and should preferably provide a relatively smooth finish toassist in releasing the fibers from the face of the card clothing duringthe carding operation.

While the multiple weave used in constructing the fabric hereincontemplated may vary extensively, and the number of layers of warpthreads used in such weave will depend largely upon the thickness andstrength of the fabric desired, the following is an analysis of a fabricconstructed substantially as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, afterthefabric had been felted but not treated with the bonding agent.

1. Weight per square yard, 64.2 ounces.

2. Guage (standard felt guage use), 0.165" to 3. Warp threads,3/2/mercerized cotton 4. Binder weft threadscoarse singles wool yarn 5.Floating weft threadscoarse singles wool yarn The following impregnatingsolution is one of a number of solutions that may be used satisfactorilyto impregnate or coat the felted faces of the fabric, the parts beinggiven by weight.

Compound A Polyvinyl chloride resin 60.0 Lead stearate (stabilizer) 2.0Dioctyl phthalate 15.0

Compound B Rubbery copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile 40.0 Stearicacid 1.5 Iron oxide 5.0 Carbon black .5 Clay 25.0

72.0 Compound C Compound A 77.0 Compound B 72.0

Compound A is mixed on a hot plastic mill after blending the plasticizerand stabilizer with the dry powdered resin. Compound B is mixed on acool rubber mill and then blended with Compound A to form Compound C.This Compound C is dissolved in twice its weight of methylethylketone togive the final impregnating solution, which may be applied to eachfelted face of the fabric as above described. After the thus impregnatedfabric has been dried, it may be cut longitudinally or warpwise intonarrow strips, whereupon the wire teeth l3 may be inserted asheretofore. This completes the operation of forming one type of singleintegral strip of card clothing such as contemplated by the presentinvention.

It will be seen from the foregoing that card clothing formed of a unitor single woven fabric foundation and then felted in accordance with thepresent invention is compact and substantially homogeneous and shouldgive good service for a long time.

While two embodiments of this invention have been shown and described indetail, it will be understood that I am not limited thereto and thatother embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of this invention as set forth in the following claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to protect byLetters Patent is:

1. Card clothing consisting of a single integral strip of woven cardcloth foundation having wire teeth set therein, and formed of aplurality of layers of strong approximately straight warpthreadsdisposed one above the other in a multiple weave and havinginterwoven therewith surface weft threads that form with each warp layera complete woven ply, and binding weft threads that secure said pliestogether, said woven fabric being felted to increase its dense- 6 nessand having on and anchored into at least one face thereof a toughbonding agent that helps support the wire teeth and promotes easyrelease of the carded fibers, and cut warp-wise from a fabric into anarrower card clothing strip into which the wire teeth are set.

2. Card clothing consisting of a single integral strip of woven cardcloth foundation having wire teeth set therein, and formed of an upperand lower layer of strong approximately straight warp threads disposedone above the other in a multiple weave and having interwoven therewithsurface weft threads that form with each warp layer a complete wovenply, and binding weft threads that secure said plies together, saidwoven fabric being felted throughout to increase its denseness andhaving on and anchored into its felted faces a tough bonding agent thathelps support the wire teeth and promotes easy release of the cardedfibers, and cut warp-wise from a fabric into a. narrower card clothingstrip into which the wire teeth are set.

3. Card clothing consisting of a single integral strip of woven cardcloth foundation having wire teeth set therein, and formed of aplurality of layers of strong approximately straight warp threadsdisposed one above the other in the fabric and having interwoventherewith surface weft threads that form with each warp layer a completewoven ply, and binding weft threads that secure said plies together toform a multiple weave, some of said weft threads being formed of wooland the fabric being felted to increase its denseness, and having on andanchored into at least one face thereof a tough bonding agent that helpssupport the wire teeth and promotes easy release of the carded fibers,and cut warp-wise from a fabric into a narrower card clothing strip intowhich the wire teeth are inserted.

HAROLD C. MURRAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 20,267 Guyer May 18, 1856 629,326Ashworth July 25, 1899 2,090,547 Neaves Aug. 17, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 8,651 Great Britain of 1840 14,063 Great Britain of1896 309,986 Great Britain Jan. 29, 1929

